Jurgen Klopp believes that his Liverpool squad includes no so-called fringe players, and insists that he sees all of his squad as first-team players.
The German admitted that he only sees his squad as senior players and youngsters ready to come in and make an impact as the footballing calendar starts to get busy.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Klopp shared his thoughts regarding his squad of players and his ability to rotate when the games come thick and fast.
“We don’t have fringe players here, we only have first-team players and a few young guns,” he said.
“We now play a lot Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, so we will have to see about [changes].”
Assistant manager, Pep Lijnders, teased on Tuesday, as quoted by journalist James Pearce, that young goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher could play against MK Dons, claiming he is ready.
OPINION
Many players would most likely be questioning Klopp’s claim that he has no fringe players, as they sit on the bench and watch their teammates succeed on a weekly basis. Players such as Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi do get chances to play but are clearly fringe options for the Reds, as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino continue to excel going forward. Klopp also teased changes in the future, some that could happen on Wednesday evening as they travel to MK Dons. It would be no surprise to see Kelleher in between the sticks, and Rhian Brewster leading the line as he looks to rest his squad after their perfect start to the Premier League season. Klopp will want to win as much silverware as possible and will not want to rotate his squad massively just because they are playing a League One side, and this game should really test his ‘fringe player’ policy at Anfield.
